Personality
Personality factors include conscientiousness, goal orientation, and anxiety. Personality is a good predictor of individual behavior across a wide variety of situations.
Conscientiousness
Conscientious individuals are dependable, organized, persevering, thorough, and achievement oriented.
Goal Orientation
Goal orientation may be considered the individual's mental framework, which influences interpretation and behavior in learning activities.
Anxiety
This is an acquired or learned fear that can result in physical arousal and a disruption in cognitive functioning and performance. While anxiety is frequently the result of the type of instructional environment being used, certain individuals have a predisposition to reacting anxiously in learning contexts.
Age
Older employees have been found to demonstrate less learning and participation in training programs than younger employees. Programs designed to train employees to use new technologies should emphasize how the new technologies will help employees achieve more positive work outcomes (appeal to younger workers) as well as emphasize the ease of use of the new technology (appeal to older workers). This is relevant both when using technology to provide a product or service and when using it as a training delivery method (i.e., Web-based training). Because of their work experiences and good knowledge of the institution, older employees may be dubious that training can be helpful to them. In addition, older trainees may fear failing and looking "bad" in front of younger colleagues, whom they see as potentially replacing them
Source: Excerpted in part from Kraiger, 2002 at pp. 63-64.
Other characteristics that have been shown to influencing learning and the transfer of training are illustrated in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2. Characteristics Influencing Learning and Transfer of Training
Source: Excerpted in part from Kraiger,...
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As noted above, although there is no "one-size-fits-all" approach to developing and implementing a training program, there are some solid guidelines that can be followed to help ensure that XYZ Corporation receives the maximum "bang for its training buck" as follows.
1. Incorporate basic skills training into training programs.
2. Assess basic skills to identify deficits and send employees who are deficient to basic skills training.
3. Perform a literacy audit of training materials to determine if the math and reading skills required for comprehension match those required for the job. For example, a readability assessment involves analysis of sentence length and word difficulty.
4. Use video and work samples or on-the-job training if trainees can learn by watching and practicing rather than reading or calculating (Kraiger, 2002, p. 65).
References
Kraiger, K. (2002). Creating, implementing, and managing effective training and development:
State-of-the-art lessons for practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Sonnentag, S. (2002). Psychological management of individual performance. New York: John
Wiley & Sons.
Age
Anxiety
Goal Orientation
Conscientiousness
Personality
Training Motivation
Organizational Commitment
and Career Exploration
Job Involvement
Job-Career Attitudes
Valence of Training
Pre-Training Self-Efficacy
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive Outcomes
Affective Outcomes
Motivational Outcomes
Trainability
Cognitive Ability
Basic Skills
Individual vs. Team Context
Organizational Justice
Opportunity to Perform
Climate
Work Environment
Job Performance
Transfer of Training
